WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A man was arrested in Utah for stabbing a Muslim man multiple times and stated that he targeted the victim because of the victim’s religion, police said in court records on Tuesday.  Police said the suspect told them he “intends to kill Muslims” and that he constituted “a substantial danger to the public if released based on his violent actions ... ideologies and pre-planned mass casualty events.”  The incident took place inside the Valley Fair ‌Mall in Utah’s West ‌Valley City on Monday.

 

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BERLIN (Xinhua) -- German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Wednesday that he does not want the United States to interfere in German elections. Merz made the remarks at the government’s annual summer press conference when he was asked about a U.S. program reportedly supporting political and civil groups in Europe, amid criticism that it could benefit groups such as those ideologically aligned with Germany’s far-right political party Alternative for Germany (AfD). Merz said Germany has always refrained from interfering in U.S. elections. “Conversely, I do not want the U.S. government or institutions close to it to interfere in German elections,” he said.

 

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BELGRADE (Reuters) - The European Union has condemned comments from a Serbian government minister who said she would “ethnically cleanse” Kosovo if she had been in power during the 1990s conflict. Speaking to Serbian television station Kurir over the weekend, Public Administration Minister Snezana Paunovic said she would strip Kosovo of Albanians if she had been in the place of strongman Slobodan Milosevic during the 1998-1999 war.

 

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PARIS (AFP) - France is experiencing a “very worrying” drought that has spurred a record number of water restrictions for the time of year, the country’s environment minister said on Wednesday. Swathes of the country are under water-use controls, with the number of local restrictions in place “the highest number recorded since at least 2013”, French Ecological Transition Minister Monique Barbut told a crisis meeting at the ministry. “We are experiencing a drought situation that is exceptional in how early it is” – “almost a month earlier” than usual – and “in its intensity”, Barbut said. “What makes the situation very worrying is that it is occurring despite spring rainfall having been broadly within the normal range,” she said.

 

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SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has widened his lead ‌over right-wing Senator Flavio Bolsonaro in the run-up to October’s presidential election, a Quaest poll commissioned by brokerage Genial showed on Wednesday. It is the first Quaest survey following a series of political developments including a corruption investigation targeting a senior Lula ally and arguments about accountability over new U.S. tariff threats against Brazil. Leftist Lula is seen with 45% of voting intentions in a potential second-round runoff, compared with 37% for Senator Bolsonaro, currently the main opposition hopeful.